A Fresh Take On Oscar's Best Picture Contenders

Some of these fresh takes on posters from this year’s Academy Awards Best Picture nominees are even better than the real thing.

Movie posters don’t always get it right. It’s all too easy to just pile on the star’s giant heads like hunters’ trophies, or utilize any of the other tired trends the studios regularly rely on. Perhaps that’s why it’s more interesting to see outsiders have a pass at the posters of hit movies.

The pop culture-inclined Gallery1988, which we’ve previously mentioned has put together a showcase for some alternate takes on posters you might recognize. All of the Best Picture nominees from this year’s Academy Awards are represented in new posters from various artists.

Some of the nominees—Beasts of the Southern Wild, in particular—already had interesting, trend-bucking posters, and yet these are still perhaps improved upon in the gallery’s commissioned versions. The new Zero Dark Thirty image looks sleek and suspenseful in night-vision green, and Les Misérables employs a tastefully bloody flag image that resonates with the film’s themes.

The "For Your Consideration" exhibit will be open in Los Angeles February 14 through 17 at Gallery1988's Melrose location, but have a look through all the posters in the slide show above.